In flexible network architectures, such as a “R6-Flex” architecture proposed by the WiMAX Forum Network Working Group (NWG), all base stations (BSs) can connect to all gateways (GWs) within a given cluster. Flex network architectures are also supported in other technologies, such as those supported by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and the Third Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2).
A problem that may arise with flexible network architectures is that when a mobile station (MS) initially enters the network, its serving BS must select an access service network-gateway (ASN-GW) for the MS. Since the serving BS is connected to all ASN-GWs within the cluster, the BS may have trouble selecting an appropriate ASN-GW. For example, an ASN-GW selected by the BS may be too busy to service the MS, or the ASN-GW may not wish to service the MS, due to having to meet equal or fair utilization of ASN-GWs in the cluster.